Borahshadow's 97 K1500 ECSB build thread.

[borahshadow]

This thread is a copy of my build thread in the street build section. I'm posting here so that I can hopefully receive some feedback about my build. I'm keeping a copy in the street build section so that it's easier to find a specific post if anyone ever wants to go back and look at how I did a certain mod.

http://www.gmt400.com/forum/showthread.php?7061-Borahshadow-s-97-Blue-GMC

Here's starts the copy of my build log:

Here's a history of my 1997 GMC K1500.

My dad bought this truck in 2005. When we got it there was about 120-130k on the clock if I recall correctly. It was used mostly as a commuter vehicle so the large majority of those miles were highway miles by the previous owner. The previous owner was the original purchaser so it's really only seen 2 owners.

This first post is somewhat wordy and long. Sorry about that. If you don't care about my audio work skip to the second post

I don't have very many pictures of the truck before I was allowed to start modifying it.
The first thing that I did to the truck was some stereo work.
I started out with a cheap Sony head unit and Sony coaxial door speakers that were part of a kit.
I built a subwoofer box that would fit under the rear seat. My dad had an old JL audio 8W0 that I was going to use for the time being. I accidentally built the box about 1/2" too small to ever hold a 10" sub like I had planned. That was ok for now as I was using the old JL 8W0.

This system didn't last very long. I installed it in January of 2010 and by August of that year I was already working on a complete rebuild of the system. I had done a lot of research about sound quality car audio and I knew that my first system wouldn't keep me happy in the long run. I did know that I wanted (and still do) to keep things mostly stock looking. Especially with car audio the more stock it can look the less likely anything is to get stolen.

I didn't have a whole lot of money to spend on a system so I had to make lots of comprimises. The system that I ended up with ended up costing be about $500-$600 and is still the single most expensive mod I've done to my truck.

I've had that system for a little over a year now (since about September 2010) it is as follows

Head Unit: Eclipse CD5030 W/ CD changer
Font Components: Pioneer TS-A1702C 6.5-Inch A-Series (running passive for now)
Component amp: Linear Power 1752
Rear speakers: Polk MoMo 4x6 but I don't like rears so I usually fade it all the way to the front so that they are off.
Subwoofer: 8" in a custom box under the back seat on drivers side
Sub amp: MTX Thunder 102

I purchased the Eclipse HU because it supposedly was almost on par with the higher end units in sound quality. It also has a really clean appearance and some desirable features.
* Parametric EQ and Time Alighment (TA)
* Bluetooth. I can use Bluetooth for streaming music from my phone and making phone calls. I have a microphone clipped to my sun visor for making phone calls.
* AUX input. I don't use it much but it's nice to be able to plug anything with a 3.5mm plug into the HU
* USB input. This can be used for playing MP3s off of a usb flash drive or for connecting an iPod. I use the flash drive feature frequently.
* CD changer. This was a bonus for me. I didn't actually purchase this HU for this reason but I was looking at the old audio stuff of my dad's and discovered that he had an Eclipse HU and changer from his old system that the JL 8w0 sub came from. A quick search later and it turns out that Eclipse CD changers are compatible with all Eclipse HU so that was a very nice bonus to the system.

I mounted the 3.5mm AUX and the USB port in the back of the CD player delete pocket. They are completely stealth but I can still access them while driving if necessary.

You must be registered for see images attach

My CD changer is mounted in the drivers side map pocket. It luckily fits perfectly. I was expecting some serious modification of the map pocket but it slipped right in. I picked up an extra map pocket at the junk yard so if I ever remove the changer I can restore it back to stock.

The Pioneer components were not as high end as I'd like to have but I read through lots of reviews and decided that they were a very nice pair of budget components. I mounted the tweeters in the stock tweeter locations. It's not an ideal location but stealth and OEM appearance won over the slight improvement that I'd gain from other custom locations.

I went through significant effort to seal the door panels as much as possible to ensure that the back wave from the speakers wouldn't cause cancellation problems. I sealed as many holes in the inner door skin as I could with sheet metal riveted in place. I also used sound deadener (Second Skin Damplifier) to dampen the vibrations of the door. I couldn't afford enough to do a complete covering but I did the most critical areas (behind the woofer, large flat areas of sheet metal, and etc) I think I accomplished about 60% effective deadening for about 25% of the price of total coverage of the door panels.

Some pics to show how I sealed up the main holes in the inner door skin. I know that it will be a pain if/when I have to replace something like a window motor or door lock actuator but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it lol.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

I mounted my two amplifiers on a custom built rack behind the rear seat. I designed it to be secure and yet easy to remove should I ever need to if I was to change an amplifier or something. It's not the prettiest but the idea is that it is hidden almost always.

You must be registered for see images attach

I ran 16awg wires from here to each tweeter and to the woofers. The passive crossovers are mounted on the amplifier rack so if I decide to change to an active system I can remove the passive crossovers and I've already got the wires back there where I need them.

You must be registered for see images attach

I am no longer running the JL8W0 because it didn't last very long. Years of sitting in the garden shed probably didn't help with it's longevity. Since I couldn't fit a 10" in the box I already had built I picked up another 8" from a local store. It was something they were clearing out and I don't actually know the name of it but it cost me $35 and performs WONDERFULLY considering the price, size, and lack of an easily identifiable brand name. The store told me it was likely either a Clarion or Onkyo but I haven't been able to confirm this or determine which one and which model.

The only things that don't appear stock are the head unit, the small microphone on the sun visor, and the CD changer. The last two are very subtle and you would have to have them pointed out or just be really observant. The sound is far from stock however.

Next Mod. Clear Headlights!

 

[borahshadow]

The headlights on this truck were pretty pathetic. They were the stock yellowed lights and therefore ugly and very dim.

In December of 2010 I upgraded the lights as follows.

I purchased a kit from LMC that had the headlights, parking lights, and clear corners. Unfortunantly I was dumb back then and I didn't know that there was a difference between the Chevy and the GMC corner lights. I wasn't able to use the clear corners and I ended up going with some euro style amber corners. That's a subject for a later post as it was a few months before I got them.

This is the best picture I have of the truck before I did any external modifications.

You must be registered for see images attach

Here is after I have the headlights and parking lights installed. I didn't have the corner lights at this point.

You must be registered for see images attach

I didn't want to go with HIDs because I had read too many things about the downsides of putting HIDs in Halogen reflectors. If I was doing it over again now I'd probably just go with HIDs because I've seen other (typically newer) trucks and cars around town that I can tell have HIDs in halogen reflectors and they don't glare any worse than the cars I see with poorly adjusted halogen bulbs in halogen reflectors.

I ended up going with HIR bulbs. They are a halogen bulb that contains a special coating which reflects the invisible infrared light back onto the filament which heats the filament up higher and produces extra light output. They are supposed to be the brightest stock halogen bulbs in the 9006 and 9005 style.

They are brighter and the clear lenses help lots too. Like I said if I had it to do over I could have gotten DDM HIDs for cheaper and then aimed them conservatively.

 

[borahshadow]

At some point around this time I got a brake controller installed. I would tow a horse trailer (and various utility trailers but they don't have brakes) and I knew that the safest thing to do was to get the trailer brakes working (Especially with the mediocre brakes these 1/2 tons have).

The controller cost about $50 and the installation cost about $50. My friend at the RV dealership convinced me into just getting it installed as it "was hard to do unless you do this kind of stuff all the time and really know what you are doing." That marks the last time that I paid someone to do something that I was even remotly confident that I could do myself. Later on I ended up redoing about half of the work that I paid them $50 to do.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[borahshadow]

Here is a post that I'd rather not be posting but it's part of the history of my truck...

My and my buddies were heading to the ski hill for a ski trip in January of 2011. We didn't know that the temperature had dropped below freezing which froze the wet roads from the rain the night before into black ice. Not trying to overly justify myself but all the other cars (except two) were driving the speed limit the same as I was. It's not like I was speeding past a bunch of cars recklessly or anything. Anyway, I came upon two cars which were driving slower than everyone else. The problem is that there was one in each lane of the interstate and so I couldn't pass. I started to apply my brakes and as soon as I did I heard and felt the ABS engage. I instantly knew that we were in trouble. Try as I might I wasn't able to correct the skid through countersteering. I finally lost control of the skid and spun 180 and hit the guard rail on the side of the road. We gently slid to a stop. Nobody was hurt. I looked at the gauges and saw that the engine was stopped. I started the truck, waited for a clearing, and turned around and drove about 1/4 of a mile down the road where the guard rail ended and I could get further off onto the shoulder. I went out and looked fully expecting to see a large crease down the entire side of my truck. I was very suprised to find out that there was only a dent on the back corner of the truck behind the rear wheel which also messed up the bumper and a dent in one of my center caps.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

I found out soon that I had messed up the front end of the truck. When I hit the guard rail the wheels were still turned (from counter steering) and the force of the impact forced them straight again. This messed up pretty much every steering related part up there. I figure that the reason that the engine stalled is that the force of the impact straightening out the wheels probably caused a pressure spike in the power steering pump which caused enough of a drag there to stall the engine. That's my best guess at least.

I was able to limp along the shoulder enough to get to a rest area a mile or two down the road where we were picked up by my friends dad. We came back home, borrowed a flat bed trailer, got my mom's nbs suburban, and set out to go bring the truck home. By this time the sun had melted off the roads and they were almost completely dry (otherwise we probably would have just waited.)

You must be registered for see images attach

That's one of my friends. That's also a good picture of the side of the truck that shows pretty much how it was when my dad bought it. The only things that are different are the stainless bed rail caps (which my dad added sometime after he bought it) and my new headlights and parking lights. Other than those two things that's how it was when we bought it.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

It's not every day you get to watch your own truck in your mirrors.


Me and my dad ended up replacing the power steering box (steering gear) and everything down stream of that such as: the pitman arms, center link, idler arm, and the tie rods. We saved a considerable amount of money doing it ourselves and I think we figured that for the couple of evenings we spent on it we saved the equivalent of earning $75/hour. Another reason not to pay to do something that you can do yourself.

I still haven't fixed the corner of the bed but a few months later I put a new bumper on (I'll get to that).

Me and my friends were incredible lucky through this whole experience. There are numerous things that could have gone wrong that would have resulted in a much more serious incident and possible injury or death of someone. We were definitely being watched over by our guardian angels that day! I learned several things that are difficult to learn without real world experience and hopefully next time I will be better prepared to avoid something like this and if I find myself in a similar experience I have more experience now to help me get out of it safely.

 

[borahshadow]

Also in January I did some more lighting modifications.

I frequently back down the lane at my house in the dark and I wanted more visibility back there. I ended up mounting a set of driving lights in the back. I wired them up with a relay to the back up lights so they turn on whenever I put the truck in reverse. Later on I mounted a toggle switch in the dash which I can use to turn them on manually. It's great for hooking up a trailer at night or other work behind the truck at night!

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

I tucked them up high enough that they are pretty much invisible unless you couch down and look for them. I didn't want them to stick out.


I also did the Hi-4 mod this same day.

I mounted both the relay for the reverse lights and the relay for the Hi-4 here. If I ever add any more relays for anything you can bet they will go here. It's a great hidden spot that doesn't interfere with anything and it's close to the fuse box.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

I absolutely love both of these mods!

 

[borahshadow]

Next on my list is my new corner lights! These are the euro style amber reflectors. I like the amber color with the light blue of my truck and the clearish euro style matches the head and parking lights. It's exactly what I wanted and I'm very happy with them. I think I like them better than I ever would have liked clear corners.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

And some pictures of my truck all cleaned up after I installed these...

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

And one of my favorites...

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[borahshadow]

I have 4 things that are pulling power off of the two AUX power studs that are on the factory fuse box at this point. I've got the 30amp trailer connection, power to the brake controller, power to my Hi-4, Power to my reverse lights. I didn't like having 4 curcuits sharing two fuses and so I changed it.

I bought a fuse box off of a member here. This gave me access to some fuse box pins that I could pull out and put in mine. I took the fuse box apart and put the pins in some of the empty places and wired it all up. I added a fuse for each of the four circuits that I mentioned above and now the two studs are currently unused so if I need power quick I can get it there until I can wire it in permanently into the fuse box.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[borahshadow]

I got a "new" bumper from the junk yard. I was picky and I got a list of all the vehicles that had the proper bumper and I picked out my own. I wasn't going to let some employee pick which bumper I got since they charge the same for it unless it has major damage. I got one that was in almost perfect condition. A bumper costs about $80 from my local yard.

Old

You must be registered for see images attach

New

You must be registered for see images attach

I must have slightly bent or slid the bumper mounting brackets when I bent up the old one and I forgot to check that and loosen them before I tightened down the new one. As a result it is slightly turned up on the one corner. I kicked myself that I did that to my new bumper but it's still an improvement and most of my friends said they'd have never noticed it if I hadn't pointed it out. I tried to shim it down with a couple of washers but I couldn't get it to straighten out, oh well.

I had been noticing that I was starting to get some superficial rust on the hitch receiver and so while I had the bumper off I wirebrushed the receiver, masked off the area and shot it with some primer and some black satin paint. It looks lots better. One of my friends asked me if I installed a new hitch and I told him it's the same one I've always had You can actually see the new paint (and the new 7Pin RV plug which comes soon) in the picture above. Here are some more pics though.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[borahshadow]

I had to modify my AUX back up lights. It turns out that the non sealed beam lights have the drain hole on the long edge and the way I mounted them it left the drain hole half way up the side. I noticed this one day after we had a rain storm and my light was half full of water.

I decided I needed to mount them the correct way so I made a bracket in my spare time in my welding class.

It mounts them with the correct orientation and I have a better light pattern now anyway. Now the drain hole is on the bottom and I put a back on the bracket so the lights are protected from road debris that might flip up and break them off. I obviously primed and painted these too. I used left over paint from the receiver so they should match great. They are just as hidden (if not more) than before and when you do see them I think they look more stock than before too.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[borahshadow]

I knew that one day I might want to pull my parents 29' RV or something else that needed a 7pin plug. The Previous Owner had installed a 6pin in the square tube of the receiver as you may have already noticed. The 7pin is significantly bigger and I didn't want to cut the hole any bigger so I mounted it in the best looking location after some recommendations on this forum. I would have liked to put one of the 7+4 pin plugs in here but they were more than twice the money and so for the time being I just went with the 7 pin. I can always tow a 4pin with an adapter. It's harder to adapt from a 6pin to a 7 pin. I also left the 6 pin in place so I can tow my horse trailer (and my utility trailer) without an adapter.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Yes the plug does shadow the drivers side back up light some but I was actually surprised how well the light seems to "shine around" the plug. The drivers side is pretty much the same brightness as the passenger side.